The Moon in Water
by TwinEnigma
Summary: Post series AU - Tsunade appoints her successor. Kakashi is not happy.


_**The Moon In Water**_

 _By TwinEnigma_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I profit from the writing of this beyond the benefit of experience._

 _Warnings/Codes: Post-series AU._

* * *

"This is ridiculous," Kakashi says. His voice is clipped, exasperated, and he leans forward against the desk, knuckles pressed hard into the wood. His eyes are narrowed and, no doubt, he is frowning beneath his mask. His entire frame screams leashed aggression.

"It is _politics_ ," Tsunade says, as if that alone should be sufficient explanation. She waves her hand dismissively, leaning back in her chair. "You know very well that sense has nothing to do with it."

Kakashi glares, unmoved. "He's _sixteen_."

"And he's the kid that punched out a god," Tsunade states, returning the glare.

"With help _and_ an army," Kakashi grounds out. "You _know_ he has no leadership experience and he's hopelessly naïve. Why would you even agree to this?"

"Because it's _good_ politics, Kakashi," Tsunade sighs. "This war aired a _lot_ of our dirty laundry out for everyone to see. Naruto… He's young, he's idealistic. He doesn't understand how entrenched this system really is…"

She trails off, looking out the window to the village beyond. Something in her expression shifts, becoming shadowed. "But all that enthusiasm – that's what's got people listening right now. They _want_ to believe him. They _want_ a savior. They're tired of this unending grudge match. And who can blame them? It'd all be so much easier if we just put down new tatami over the bloodstains and forgot, pretended like nothing ever happened."

She pauses again and this time there is no forgetting that she is far older than she appears. "That isn't about to happen, you and I _both_ know that. And even if we could get rid of the shinobi system – which we _can't_ – what then? Give it a few years and the fighting will start right back up again. My job is to make sure we're prepared when that happens."

"And you think parading him around as a useless figurehead will help?" Kakashi demands quietly.

"Not a figurehead - a _deterrent_ ," Tsunade counters, her eyes narrowing shrewdly. She raps her knuckles on the top of the hat denoting her office. "And giving Naruto this will make it blatantly clear to the rest of these vultures that his power belongs to this village first and foremost."

Kakashi snorts bitterly, drawing back.

"He always keeps his word," she intones, tilting her head. She raises a hand, fingers resting lightly on the Hokage hat, and there is something hard and vicious in her smile that wasn't there before.

Suddenly, he understands.

This is the kunoichi who was born in a village only just newly formed, who grew up in the sea of bloodshed that was the First Great Ninja War, and who cut her teeth on the Second War. This is the kunoichi who learned how to bluff and win at the knee of her grandfather and his brother. This is the kunoichi who buried lovers and siblings and was betrayed and left behind by those closest to her. And this is the woman who wandered the land in the aftermath and saw the bloody swaths their wars cut across the Elemental Countries, all in the name of their employers. She, more than anyone, knows the cycle of blood and death they were born into.

To her, Hokage is both title and tool, a weapon to use and be used. Only the strongest, those most loyal and most willing to sacrifice their all for Konoha are worthy to bear this title: it is the kind of patriotic faith he learned to breathe from his earliest days and still reaches for when all else is failing him. And he – they are all tools in the hands of their kage, made for fighting and dying, and he knows that she sees how it's ingrained more deeply into him than any childish declarations denying that reality because it's embedded just as deeply in her bones. That she wishes to use the oath of the Hokage's office to tie Naruto's hands is evidence enough of that.

And Naruto, the idealistic, lonely, hopeful idiot that he is, would accept it gladly, unwittingly tangling himself in between his ethos and the inevitable reality of duty.

Idly, Kakashi wonders why he'd ever fallen for her bluff of the vain drunkard.

"The people want a savior to lead them, Kakashi," she states, matter-of-factly. "We will _give_ them one: young and handsome and full of hope. By the time they realize how much hard work keeping the peace really is, we will have honed him into a real leader."

For a moment, there is silence.

"You know, Obito wanted me to be Hokage," Kakashi says, his gaze distant. "He told me that, in the end."

Tsunade gives him a sharp look out of the corner of her eye. "Obito was _insane_."

Kakashi nods absently. It was assuring to hear someone else, someone not drunk on victory and youthful idealism, say the words he can only sometimes admit to himself.

"But," she adds, standing and facing the window. "He was also a product of this world we live in. If there's to be any hope of change at all, what was done can't continue to be ignored for the sake of convenience."

She pauses, looking over her shoulder at him. "Make sure Naruto understands that. That is an order."

Kakashi bows.

He doesn't like it, but he understands. Obito would, too.

After all, a kage is prepared to sacrifice everything for their village.

Especially heroes.

* * *

 _Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori._

It is sweet and right to die for your country.

Horace, _Odes._


End file.
